GA-ASI Predator-series Aircraft Exceed Four Million Flight Hours

GA-ASI Predator-series Aircraft Exceed Four Million Flight Hours

AFA AIR, SPACE & CYBER, WASHINGTON – 20 September 2016 – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI), a leading manufacturer of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems solutions, today announced that its Predator®-series family of aircraft, including MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper®, and MQ-1C Gray Eagle, has achieved a historic industry milestone: four million flight hours. The milestone was crossed on August 7th, with 291,331 total missions completed and 90% of all missions flown in combat.

"Amassing four million flight hours is a testament to the reliability of RPA systems that are designed, built, and maintained by a dedicated group of skilled and innovative professionals," said Linden Blue, CEO, GA-ASI. "We are proud of our fleet's contributions in providing round-the-clock ISR capabilities for our customers worldwide."

The identification of the specific aircraft and customer that achieved the milestone is unknown as every second of every day, an average of 70 Predator-class aircraft are airborne worldwide. On August 7th, 79 GA-ASI manufactured aircraft were airborne when the four millionth flight hour was flown. Flight hours have continued to grow at unprecedented rates in recent years, with 500,000 flight hours achieved from 1993 to 2008, one million hours in 2010, two million hours in 2012, and three million hours in 2014.

"The demand for persistent situational awareness using GA-ASI RPA is demonstrated daily through the increasing accumulation of flight hours. This demand is consistently answered by our team of employees, suppliers, and partners who work hard to meet our customers' dynamic mission requirements," said David R. Alexander, president, Aircraft Systems, GA-ASI.

Recently GA-ASI's Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper fleet passed its own historic milestone, achieving one-and-a-half million flight hours on August 24th, after flying approximately 111,773 total sorties. Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper flight hours now account for approximately one-third of GA-ASI's four million total flight hours and are increasing at an average rate of 32,000 hours a month.

GA-ASI aircraft are logging nearly 45,000 hours per month supporting the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, NASA, the Italian Air Force, the Royal Air Force, the French Air Force, and other customers. Missions include helping protect ground units on the battlefield; supporting U.S. Customs & Border Protection operations, and first responders in the wake of natural disasters. These aircraft systems continue to maintain the highest operational availability rates in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army aircraft inventories. GA-ASI has produced over 770 aircraft to date and is currently building four aircraft per month, with the capacity to triple production if needed.

High-resolution photos of Predator-series aircraft are available to qualified media outlets from the listed GA-ASI media below.

About GA-ASI

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., an affiliate of General Atomics, delivers situational awareness by providing remotely piloted aircraft systems, radars, and electro-optic and related mission systems solutions for military and commercial applications worldwide. The company's Aircraft Systems business unit is a leading designer and manufacturer of proven, reliable RPA systems, including Predator A, Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper, Gray Eagle, the new Predator C Avenger®, and Predator XP. It also manufactures a variety of state-of-the-art digital Ground Control Stations (GCS), including the next-generation Advanced Cockpit GCS, and provides pilot training and support services for RPA field operations. The Mission Systems business unit designs, manufactures, and integrates the Lynx® Multi-mode Radar and sophisticated Claw® sensor control and image analysis software into both manned and remotely piloted aircraft. It also focuses on providing integrated sensor payloads and software for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft platforms and develops high energy lasers, electro-optic sensors, and meta-material antennas. For more information, please visit www.ga-asi.com.